Summer Book Preview: July 2016, Part I |

I was neglect in creating preview posts for June (thanks to my crazy schedule, BEA, etc.) so I knew i couldn’t be remiss in sharing July titles that piqued my attention. July is quite a month for books, leaving me wondering why adults don’t get a summer break!? Wouldn’t it be divine to have the summer off for reading?

I’ve shared the book titles, publication dates, publisher’s summary and a short note about why I’m excited about the book. This first list includes the books published the first week of July.

The Long, Hot Summer by Kathleen MacMahon (July 5):

Nine Lives. Four Generations. One Family. The MacEntees are no ordinary family.

Determined to be different from other people, they have carved out a place for themselves in Irish life by the sheer force of their personalities.

There’s Deirdre, the aged matriarch and former star of the stage. Her estranged writer husband Manus now lives with a younger man. Their daughter Alma is an unapologetically ambitious television presenter, while Acushla plays the part of the perfect political wife. And there’s Macdara, the fragile and gentle soul of the family. Together, the MacEntees present a glamorous face to the world. But when a series of misfortunes befall them over the course of one long, hot summer, even the MacEntees will struggle to make sense of who they are.

I’m all about multi-generational stories. The characters in this story sound quite unique, furthering my interest in reading this title!

Belgravia by Julian Fellowes (July 5):

From the creator and writer of Downton Abbey comes a grand historical novel, with hugely exciting twists and turns and dramatic, cliffhanger chapter endings.

Julian Fellowes’s Belgravia is the story of a secret. A secret that unravels behind the porticoed doors of London’s grandest postcode. Set in the 1840s when the upper echelons of society began to rub shoulders with the emerging industrial nouveau riche, Belgravia is people by a rich cast of characters. But the story begins on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. At the Duchess of Richmond’s n0w legendary ball, one family’s life will change forever.

Like many, I’m a huge fan of Downton Abbey. I was sad when it ended, but thrilled when this title appeared on my doorstep!

The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone (July 5):

An astonishingly inventive and terrifying debut novel about the emergence of an ancient species, dormant for over a thousand years, and now on the march.

Deep in the jungle of Peru, where so much remains unknown, a black, skittering mass devours an American tourist whole. Thousands of miles away, an FBI agent investigates a fatal plane crash in Minneapolis and makes a gruesome discovery. Unusual seismic patterns register in a Kanpur, India earthquake lab, confounding the scientists there. During the same week, the Chinese government “accidentally” drops a nuclear bomb in an isolated region of its own country. As these incidents begin to sweep the globe, a mysterious package from South America arrives at a Washington, D.C. laboratory. Something wants out.

The world is on the brink of an apocalyptic disaster. An ancient species, long dormant, is now very much awake.

Need I say more? Terrifying ancient species, dormant for a thousand years, now awake? Yep, this is right up my alley. There’s been so much praise and marketing for this book. I cannot wait.

Underground Airlines by Ben Winters (July 5):

It is the present-day, and the world is as we know it: smartphones, social networking and Happy Meals. Save for one thing: the Civil War never occurred.

A gifted young black man calling himself Victor has struck a bargain with federal law enforcement, working as a bounty hunter for the US Marshall Service. He’s got plenty of work. In this version of America, slavery continues in four states called “the Hard Four.” On the trail of a runaway known as Jackdaw, Victor arrives in Indianapolis knowing that something isn’t right–with the case file, with his work, and with the country itself.

A mystery to himself, Victor suppresses his memories of his childhood on a plantation, and works to infiltrate the local cell of a abolitionist movement called the Underground Airlines. Tracking Jackdaw through the back rooms of churches, empty parking garages, hotels, and medical offices, Victor believes he’s hot on the trail. But his strange, increasingly uncanny pursuit is complicated by a boss who won’t reveal the extraordinary stakes of Jackdaw’s case, as well as by a heartbreaking young woman and her child who may be Victor’s salvation. Victor himself may be the biggest obstacle of all–though his true self remains buried, it threatens to surface.

Victor believes himself to be a good man doing bad work, unwilling to give up the freedom he has worked so hard to earn. But in pursuing Jackdaw, Victor discovers secrets at the core of the country’s arrangement with the Hard Four, secrets the government will preserve at any cost.

Underground Airlines is a ground-breaking novel, a wickedly imaginative thriller, and a story of an America that is more like our own than we’d like to believe.

The premise of this title is so novel, so unique, that I’ve had it on my must-read list for months. Winters is also the author of the award-winning The Last Policeman trilogy.

Last Words by Michael Koryta (July 5):

Mark Novak just wants to come home. Still mourning the death of his wife, private investigator Mark Novak accepts a case that may be his undoing. On the same day his wife died, the body of a teenage girl was pulled from the extensive and perilous cave system beneath Southern Indiana. Now the man who rescued the girl, who was believed to be her killer, begs Novak to uncover what really happened.

Garrison is much like any place in America, proud and fortified against outsiders. For Mark to delve beneath the town’s surface, he must match wits with the man who knows the caverns better than anyone. A man who seems to have lost his mind. A man who seems to know Mark Novak all too well. LAST WORDS is a pulse-pounding thriller of one man’s undoing; you just may not know which man.

Koryta’s books are ones I look forward to each year. A former private investigator and newspaper reporter, he has a way of creating incredibly unique thrillers. He immerses himself in his writing, acting out scenes he writes for his characters in order to provide an accurate and genuine portrayal of that scene.

The Trap by Melanie Raabe (July 5):

For 11 years, the bestselling author Linda Conrads has mystified fans by never setting foot outside her home. Haunted by the unsolved murder of her younger sister–who she discovered in a pool of blood–and the face of the man she saw fleeing the scene, Linda’s hermit existence helps her cope with debilitating anxiety. But the sanctity of her oasis is shattered when she sees her sister’s murderer on television. Hobbled by years of isolation, Linda resolves to use the plot of her next novel to lay an irresistible trap for the man. As the plan is set in motion and the past comes rushing back, Linda’s memories–and her very sanity–are called into question. Is this man a heartless killer or merely a helpless victim?

I learned about this debut thriller at BEA and was immediately captivated.

There you have it! The first of at least three posts. Stay turned for more!